United Airlines has just delivered some bad news to its massive workforce of more than 25,000 flight attendants… the demands that their union is making in protracted contract negotiations aren’t realistic and would put the carrier at a “competitive disadvantage.”
The warning came in an internal memo reviewed by PYOK after four days of New Year bargaining in Chicago, which concluded on Friday. The memo could put the airline at loggerheads with the union.
United says union demands would put the airline at a competitive disadvantage
2026 marks the fifth consecutive year that flight attendants at United have been without a pay raise, as protracted talks to agree on an updated contract have so far been unsuccessful.
Last summer, flight attendants rejected a proposed tentative agreement, and now the union is trying to negotiate improvements based on feedback it gathered from its members.
Ahead of this week’s talks, the Association of Flight Attendants said it would be demanding that United make improvements in eight key areas of the contract, such as securing additional pay for flight attendants who have to wait for lengthy periods in airports between flights – what is known as a ‘sit rig.’
Now that the union has formally presented these demands to United, the airline has responded in an internal memo:
“As we’ve shared before, you deserve an industry-leading contract that also keeps our airline competitive. As currently presented, the union’s proposal would put United at a competitive disadvantage compared to other airlines,” the memo warned.
United did, at least, present a counterproposal that would address some of the union’s top demands, but also confirmed that it had “presented options to offset the cost of their new proposals and put us on a path toward a competitive, industry-leading agreement.”
Unions says concessions are a ‘non-starter’
Going into this week’s talks, the union said that any proposed concessions from United were a “non-starter.”
In other words, the union has no intention of entertaining the proposals put forward by United to offset improvements in other areas of the contract.
“One thing we will not be spending time on is management’s ridiculous list of concessions,” the union told its members last week. “We already beat back these proposals once during TA1 [the first tentative agreement] and have no interest in entertaining them during this second round of bargaining.”
One of the most contentious proposals by United is to replace the current scheduling system that flight attendants use with what is known as a ‘Preferential Bidding System,’ in which computer algorithms help decide what trips and days off flight attendants are assigned.
The union has long been opposed to the introduction of PBS, arguing that the system is opaque and makes it hard to evaluate whether schedules are being assigned in line with the flight attendant contract.
Counter proposal is now with union but talks have to wait until February
The AFA is yet to update its members on what it thinks of United’s counterproposals, although the union will have some time to mull over the details.
Following the conclusion of this week’s talks, the two sides aren’t expected to take part in federally mediated bargaining until mid-February. Further talks are also already scheduled in March.
Another potential flashpoint between the two sides is a proposal to reduce United’s reserve monthly guarantee for flight attendants, which is essentially a guarantee to pay flight attendants on reserve for a minimum number of hours, even if they aren’t used.
United currently offers a reserve monthly guarantee of 78 hours, but has proposed reducing this to 75 hours. The airline says this would allow it to reduce the amount of time that flight attendants spend on standby to 12 hours at a time and align the contract with peers like American Airlines.
United responds to union demand for immediate pay raises
Interestingly, ahead of this week’s bargaining sessions, the union had called on United to offer immediate pay raises to flight attendants, given how long they have gone without an increase in their wages, despite the rising cost of living.
The airline has now responded, although it doesn’t sound like United is willing to offer a pay raise outside of a full contract agreement.
The memo sent to staffers on Friday explained: “We are keeping steady progress and working collaboratively toward an agreement that reflects your work and supports our long-term success.”
“As part of your new contract, we are focused on getting you the raises you deserve as soon as possible. You’ve waited too long. The TA1 wage structure would have provided United flight attendants with industry-leading pay among unionized U.S. carriers for the duration of the agreement.”
